reading and writing about why we work

February 2015

02/18/2015

Movie posters are supposed to sum up the feelings of an entire movie. Just a single frame, carefully manipulated to get you interested in seeing the other frames of a film. For the 1999 film Office Space, the poster reads across the bottom "Work Sucks".This satirical film, on the American workplace, follows Peter Gibbons. He is fed up with working unhappily in his cubicle and decides he is done with it. In a discussion with a waitress Peter says, "I, uh, I don't like my job. I don't think I'm gonna go anymore...I really don't like it so I'm not gonna go."He finds himself with no reason to work. What about bills Peter? No way, he says " Y'know, I never really liked paying bill? I don't think I'll do that either." Peter finds himself hating life at his job. He gets no excitement or stimulation from it. Work becomes a total chore. And Mondays become a disease.

But work doesn't need to be like this. First, you need to know yourself. As Bain proposes in his book What the Best College Students Do, the most successful people he interviewed consistently knew what made themselves tick. What got their blood flowing, their brain working and kept them happy with their work. Being able to introspectively acknowledge what keeps yourself excited and interested is important in figuring out a career path that wont send you on the path Peter Gibbons has chosen. Doing something personally rewarding can keep you sane in the workplace. Finding a way to stay motivated to work can be a difficult task, but it will lead to a more succesfull and satisfying life. You may even sit in traffic happily awaiting the moment you walk into work instead of beating your head against the horn and walking into work with a case of the Mondays. All you need to do, to beat those Mondays is to put yourself in a position where your work allows you to use your own unique talents and interests to be productive. Its important to care about your work. If you don't, maybe it's time to do something else that aligns more with your passions.

Here's some seed for thought. The quality could be better. It starts about 35 minutes into the movie

Judge, Mike. “Office Space.” IMDb. IMDb. Web. 17 Feb 2015.

Bain, Ken. “What the Best College Students Do.” Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: Harvard, 2012. Print

Work because my job makes me feel like I am accomplishing something, it is very important. At the end of the movie when Peter went to see Joanna to apologize, Peter said, " I don't know why I can't just go to work and be happy" Joanna reply: " Peter most people don't like their jobs. But you go out there and find something that makes you happy." I believe that when you find work that makes you happy you will be successful in life, like Shawn Achor, when talking about the happy secret to better work to be happy, because happiness inspires productivity.

02/17/2015

When Peter invited Joanna to eat lunch, she started the conversation with, what do you do for a living? Peter said, I work for Initech, but "I don't like my job, I don't think I'm gonna go anymore." Joanna said, "well, what are you going to do about money and bills." I believe the main reason people have to work is because they need to pay their bills. A good example of this is Kysha Lewin in her interview in GiG titled "McDonald's Crew Member, "When she says "last year I decided I needed a job because it's like only my mom, she's trying to take care of the bills, and it's hard for her" (24-25). Just as paying the bills is the main reason Kysha works, it is also the main reason many of us work.

The film, Office Space, I felt hit on topics we, as people, edge out of our lives when it comes to not just finding a career but also our personal lives which is the fact of disconnection of happiness and hope for something new and adventurous. The scene that I feel really places the nail in the coffin is when Jim tells the guys that they are to be laid off. His friends are upset and unsure of what the future holds for them because that company is all they know and what is to become of their future. It got me to thinking about want Sean Acher from TED Talk was saying, that our views of happiness and success are largely confused.

Jim never wanted to move up in the company, he didn't like it one bit. wanting to quit but knew if he quit how would he pay his bills, rent and his life style. He wanted a release of all that pressure to go away and just not think about work and how it was bringing him down. Jim was relaying on the job he did to bring him utter happiness but it wasn't. So his form of retaliation was to just stop caring and be happy doing, nothing, to be honest. His friends are the same way during the film. they didn't know how to step into the world. They were fearful of what is to come next.

being afraid of carving new paths and looking above that level of comfort and want you know is difficult. I know, i've had to do it when i moved to Colorado 4 yrs ago. Leaving my family and friends behind to be with my husband. Leaving a job i was good at and enjoyed. but most of all feeling that i was leaving everything behind to maybe not even getting where i want to be. that was a struggling aspect to grasp. it is still one i live with today. the driving question, where is this leading to?

In the film, Jim not only sees that his life has become a more joyous occasion once he has let go of this image of, working here makes me want to commit suicide. instead he embraces it and realizes that no body should feel unhappy in a career path that should be creating these paths to encourage you to become a better you. His friends realize this not only when they get drunk and "kill off" the fax machine, or was it a printer. They feel this sense of bliss when they are at a new job at the end, even Jim, actually enjoying where they are now to where they were a couple of months ago. Jim says to them, "I'M GOOD FOR NOW," as if indicating to them life always has new surprises.

this image is of the Grand Canyon, I went once and it was breathtaking, it symbolizes the every changing possibilities in life. one can never be sure what life can throw at you. but you just take it and let it pave a new road of happiness.

Mozart was famous for many things but what stuck out was his operas. The Mozart letter to his father grabbed my attention. This letter was talking about his operas.The letter was explaining his challenges with his operas but i also felt like it was using a similarity, comparing his "opera" to how he was feeling about his life or relationship with his dad. I took this letter very personal personally because I have always had troubles with my dad but I always was willing to make up with him. I was also always ready for when he would leave again. "Well, I am ready. I wish to avoid all strife, but if I am challenged I know how to defend myself. If it runs its course without a duel, I should prefer it, for I do not care to wrestle with dwarfs. " This quote reminded me on how I was ready to accept him after everything I was put through but I also knew that if he walked out again I would be mentally not okay. I didn't care I just wanted my dad. I knew it couldn't stay like this forever. I knew that this had to come soon, " God grant that some change may soon come to pass."

Do you really like your job? Office Spacewas a great movie that really put your mind to thinking. This was movie was great especially for me. I connected with the first 20 to 32 minutes of it! In my first draft of my paper I had talked about how I was working at McDonalds. McDonalds challenged me so much. Kysha Lewin from GiG couldn't have said it better " the customers and the managers aren't great." That was definitely a challenge. Working with people who weren't very nice or understanding at all but it got me out of my comfort zone especially for starting at a young age. I didn't like working there at all. I got to the same point that Peter was in from Office Space. I didn't feel like showing up or even listening to my boss. My job was not something I liked. I felt like Joanna. Her boss had told her about how she was at the bottom and how come she didn't want to be at the top. why she wanted to stay at the minimum. Her boss had made it so complicated when the answer was really simply, to wear more flairs. I felt like he was trying to make her feel bad for being a the bottom but make her respond in a way he wanted her to. Working at McDonalds was exactly like that. We had standards but we were suppose to go above and beyond the standards with out being told. Its like if we were suppose to be mind readers. There was no motivation when we gained sales nothing. The one thing different from the movie compared to my work situation was they didn't even offer us anything. I kept the job because I had bills to pay. I couldn't really just give up my job and walk out. Luckily I had a friend like Joanna that snapped me out of the ridiculous plan of just not going anymore. We need to work to survive unless we are millionaires and want to do nothing like Peter.

Work sucks. Peter Gibbons, the main character from the movie Office Space, realized how much his work sucked. He hated being at work the moment he would step into the office. This movie arose the question in me; should we work to live or live to work? Peter Gibbons in the first part of the movie has the mindset that he should live to work. He doesn’t enjoy work at all, but knows he has to go. Then finally we reach the scene where his mindset changes, and he gets hypnotized. After that moment, I believe his mindset changes to he should work to live. Peter wasn’t happy at all before the hypnotist, but after he seemed to be relaxed and joyful. He was able to live life the way he wanted to. Shawn Achor, a psychologist that gave a TED talk , says “we are in charge of our own happiness.” He is a person who studies people that are above average, and tries to bring the average people to above average. Shawn talks a lot about how our brains are actually key to change our happiness and success. He states that many of us have the mindset “if I work harder I’ll be more successful.” But does that bring true happiness? Peter worked a lot in the beginning of the movie, and his work did not bring him happiness. When Peter’s brain switched, I believe he became more positive and more of a “straight shooter.” He lightened up, and got a promotion at work. His potential was seen when he became more free and positive. “Raise someone’s positivity in the present then the brain experiences a happiness advantage.” This happiness advantage Shawn speaks of means people have better more secure jobs, less burnout, and your brain works better. Working to be happy may be logical for some people, but Shawn Achor and Peter Gibbons challenge that idea. Happiness shouldn’t be work. If people think more positively and become more relaxed, I believe work could become more enjoyable. When people’s brains reach that happiness advantage, I think their mindset becomes work to live not live to work.

The scene that I chose from Office Space and found it not only interesting but funny. The scene is when Bill Lundburgh says, "I'm going to need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday, too." I think it's interesting how he didn't even ask him if he wanted or could work on Sunday he just tells him your working on Sunday. I have this happened to me so many times and ask myself why do I let my boss do this to me but then i remember i need the job and get over it. We all need a job for a certain reason and can't say no because we can get fired. I found a connection with the quote by Jim Churchman in Wal- Mart Greeter,when he states "My favorite thing about the job is the fact that i have a job". I agree because if we have a necessity nothing is better than having a job even if you have to go in on Sundays.

One scene that I found related to why I work is the printer scene. I picked this scene because it shows that if you work in a place that you don't like, then every little thing is going to make you frustrated. In my paper, my main topic is I want to work somewhere I am happy and in a field I am passionate about. The UPS driver, William Rosario, interviewed in GiG, hates his job. He complains about everything. "I hate wearing a uniform and dealing with people who are real assholes. I hate having to deal with someone that you can't stand, five days a week, and having to take their shit." If he liked his job maybe these little things wouldn't make him so angry.

Works Cited

GiG, Americans Talk About Their Jobs, John Bowe, Marisa Bowe, and Sabin Streeter.

One of the funniest scenes in the film Office Space by director Mike Judge occurs right at the beginning of the movie and reflects the inner journey that the main character Peter takes throughout the film. In the scene, Peter’s work associate and friend Michael Bolton is seen driving to work in his vehicle while singing to rap music with gangster-style confidence. As someone approaches the vehicle, Michael turns down the volume and returns to the meek and mild mannered self he typically projects into the world. In one moment, Michael is expressing his authenticity and in the next, he shies away from the qualities he truly wants to express. Those juxtaposed moments of differing levels of authentic expression also reflect the main character’s journey to find a job and lifestyle that more closely aligns with his core values. This scene in the film speaks to the process of self-discovery that everyone takes as they search for a suitable job and learn to express themselves confidently in the workforce. Sometimes you have to realize that not every job is going to be a perfect fit and you have to have the courage to explore different work opportunities in order to discover what makes you happy. In his book, What the Best College Students Do, Michael Bain talks about how people who are successful exhibit a sense of self-agency and take control of their own learning. He comments “they were responsible for their own education…do it for yourself. Do it because it serves your need to grow” (21). Likewise, every job that we have becomes a learning experience equally as important as formal education. Our sense of dissatisfaction in a job often only masks the positive desire to manifest a different work experience. Transitioning from one job to the next may sometimes seem like a leap of faith, just as it was for Peter, but it is an important step for one’s personal growth.

Works Cited

Bain, Ken. “What the Best College Students Do.” Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: Harvard, 2012. Print